The Impact of Festival Volunteering

Oxfam’s festival stewards play a crucial role in ensuring the smooth running of festivals, providing friendly and professional support to festivalgoers and organisers. In exchange for their time, festivals pay Oxfam for each steward's hours worked.

In 2024, this commitment raised an incredible £1.55 million, directly supporting Oxfam's life-saving projects around the world.

The money raised enables us to act fast to save lives in emergencies, provide sustainable solutions to hunger and poverty, and tackle the root causes of inequality on a global scale.

Oxfam’s on-site festival shops offer festivalgoers a wide range of second-hand festival fashion finds.

In 2024, our dedicated shop volunteers worked tirelessly across seven festivals, raising an outstanding £335,000 to fund Oxfam’s critical work.

Not only did our shops help raise vital funds, but they also had a positive environmental impact. By promoting second-hand shopping and encouraging festivalgoers to choose pre-loved items, we saved 9 tonnes of clothing and goods from ending up in landfill. This contributes to reducing waste and promoting a circular economy, both key elements in the fight against climate change.

Climate change is one of the biggest threats facing the communities Oxfam supports, and raising awareness of the urgent need for climate justice is more critical than ever.

This summer, our campaigners were out in full force, engaging 43,316 festivalgoers in conversations about climate change, inequality, and how we can all take action to build a fairer, more sustainable future.

Through interactive activities, petitions, and discussions, our volunteers helped spark important conversations, encouraging festival attendees to stand up for climate justice and join the movement for a better world.

Whether stewarding, working in festival shops, or campaigning for climate justice, our festival volunteers are part of Oxfam’s global community, fighting for change. Their dedication, passion, and hard work directly fund life-saving projects, protect the environment, and inspire change on a global scale.

Collectively, our amazing family of volunteers has an unmeasurable impact that expands well beyond the festival field.

Oxfam believes that poverty is an injustice that can and must be overcome – so everyone has the power to thrive, not just survive.

We believe that by standing together with communities around the world to speak out against injustice – working in the toughest places on earth and tackling the inequalities that exacerbate poverty – a kinder and radically better world is possible.

Last year, Oxfam and partners supported 9.8 million people around the world to fight poverty. By responding fast when an emergency hits, funding long-term development work, and campaigning and putting pressure on world leaders to tackle the injustices that cause poverty.

Vantha and her husband Bun are part of an Aquaponics pilot project in their village. The pilot, initiated by Oxfam in collaboration with local partner Northeastern Rural Development, gives local villagers the opportunity to grow vegetables in a climate resilient way to support their household expenses.

The innovative pilot project combines aquaculture (raising fish) with hydroponics (growing plants without soil).

In an area where climate change has brought challenges to traditional farming in the form of hotter temperatures, drought and severe flooding, Vantha and Bun are able to grow food in a solar-powered, climate-controlled greenhouse which protects their crops from the elements.

“The income we make from vegetables in this greenhouse house is good... The income after deducting the labour cost is better than the old techniques. We harvest more vegetables to sell, and we are not so tired because we are old, this work doesn’t tire us.”

“I would like to say thank you for supporting us” – Vantha.